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"Two Tribes" is an
anti-war song
Some anti-war songs lament aspects of wars, while others satirize war. Most promote peace in some form, while others sing out against specific armed conflicts. Still others depict the physical and psychological destruction that warfare causes to ...
by British band
Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Frankie Goes to Hollywood were an English synth-pop band formed in Liverpool in 1980. The group's best-known line-up comprised Holly Johnson (vocals), Paul Rutherford (singer), Paul Rutherford (backing vocals), Peter Gill (FGTH drummer), Peter ...
, released in the
UK by
ZTT Records
ZTT Records is a British record label founded in 1983 by record producer Trevor Horn, Horn's wife and businesswoman Jill Sinclair, and ''New Musical Express'' (NME) journalist Paul Morley. The label's name was also stylised as ZANG TUMB TUUM and ...
on 4 June 1984.
The song was later included on the album ''
Welcome to the Pleasuredome
''Welcome to the Pleasuredome'' is the debut studio album by English synth-pop band Frankie Goes to Hollywood, first released on 29 October 1984 by ZTT Records. Originally issued as a vinyl double album, it was assured of a UK chart entry at n ...
''. Presenting a
nihilistic
Nihilism (; ) is a philosophy, or family of views within philosophy, that rejects generally accepted or fundamental aspects of human existence, such as objective truth, knowledge, morality, values, or meaning of life, meaning. The term was pop ...
, gleeful lyric expressing enthusiasm for
nuclear war, it juxtaposes a relentless pounding bass line and guitar riff inspired by American funk and
R&B pop with influences of Russian classical music, in an opulent arrangement produced by
Trevor Horn
Trevor Charles Horn (born 15 July 1949) is an English music producer, label and recording studio owner, musician and composer. He is best known for his production work in the 1980s, and for being one half of the new wave band The Buggles (wit ...
.
The single was a phenomenal success in the UK, helped by a wide range of
remixes and supported by an advertising campaign depicting the band as members of the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...
. It entered the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
at number one on 10 June 1984, where it stayed for nine consecutive weeks, during which time the group's previous single "
Relax
Relax may refer to:
Aviation
* Roland Z-120 Relax, a German ultralight aircraft design for the 120 kg class
Music Albums
* ''Relax'' (Blank & Jones album), 2003
* ''Relax'' (Das Racist album), 2011
Songs
* "Relax" (song), a 1983 song by Fran ...
" climbed back up the charts to number two.
It was the longest-running number-one single in the UK of the 1980s. It has sold 1.58 million copies in the UK as of November 2012.
Songwriters Johnson, Gill and O'Toole received the 1984
Ivor Novello award
The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and composing. They have been presented annually in London by the Ivors Academy (formerly the BASCA) since 1956, and over 1,000 statuettes have been ...
for Best Song Musically and Lyrically. In 2015 the song was voted by the British public as the nation's 14th-favourite
1980s number one in a poll for
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
.
Music
A version of "Two Tribes" was originally recorded for a
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...
session in October 1982. The session version makes clear that the basic structure of the song, including its signature bass-line, percussion arrangement and idiosyncratic introductory and middle eight sections, were already intact prior to any involvement from ZTT or eventual producer
Trevor Horn
Trevor Charles Horn (born 15 July 1949) is an English music producer, label and recording studio owner, musician and composer. He is best known for his production work in the 1980s, and for being one half of the new wave band The Buggles (wit ...
.
Johnson also noted: "There's two elements in the music – an American funk line and a Russian line. It's the most obvious demonstration of two tribes that we have today."
To accentuate the musical tension, Horn arranged the 'Russian' segments as a dramatic string arrangement. The driving funk/rock rhythm section was played on synthesisers.
Title and lyrics
The single was released at a time when the
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
had
intensified and fears about global
nuclear warfare
Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a theoretical military conflict or prepared political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conventional warfare, nuclear ...
were at a peak. Although Johnson would attest in a 1984 radio interview that the "two tribes" of the song potentially represented any pair of warring adversaries (giving the examples of "
cowboy
A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the '' vaquer ...
s and
Indians or
Captain Kirk
James Tiberius Kirk is a fictional character in the '' Star Trek'' media franchise. Originally played by Canadian actor William Shatner, Kirk first appeared in '' Star Trek'' serving aboard the starship USS ''Enterprise'' as captain. Kirk lea ...
and
Klingon
The Klingons ( ; Klingon: ''tlhIngan'' ) are a fictional species in the science fiction franchise ''Star Trek''.
Developed by screenwriter Gene L. Coon in 1967 for the original ''Star Trek'' (''TOS'') series, Klingons were swarthy humanoids c ...
s"), the line "On the air America/I modelled shirts by Van Heusen" is a clear reference to then
US President
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
. Reagan had advertised for
Phillips Van Heusen
PVH Corp., formerly known as the Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation, is an American clothing company which owns brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Warner's, Olga and True & Co. The company also licenses brands such as Kenneth Cole New Y ...
in 1953 (briefly reviving the association in the early 1980s). The title of his first film had been ''
Love Is on the Air
''Love is on the Air'' is a 1937 American film directed by Nick Grinde, and starring Ronald Reagan (in his film debut), June Travis, Eddie Acuff, Robert Barrat, Raymond Hatton and Willard Parker. It was the first of three remakes of the 1933 P ...
''.
The lyric "working for the black gas" is, according to Johnson, "About oil surpassing gold. How you might as well be paid in petrol."
[No 1 magazine, 4 August 1984 http://www.zttaat.com/article.php?title=181] And the line "Are we living in a land where sex and horror are the new gods?" was inspired by the 1959 British film ''
Cover Girl Killer''. Johnson explained, "The TV was on in the background while I was doing me ironing and suddenly this character came out with that statement."
(The actual dialogue, which occurs at about 48 minutes 24 seconds into the film, is "Surely sex and horror are the new gods in this polluted world of so-called entertainment?")
The track featured snippets of narration from actor
Patrick Allen
John Keith Patrick Allen (17 March 1927 – 28 July 2006) was a British actor.
Life and career
Allen was born in Nyasaland (now Malawi), where his father was a tobacco farmer. After his parents returned to Britain, he was evacuated to Canada ...
, recreating his narration from the British ''
Protect and Survive
''Protect and Survive'' was a public information campaign on civil defence. Produced by the British government between 1974 and 1980, it intended to advise the public on how to protect themselves during a nuclear attack. The campaign compris ...
''
public information film
Public information films (PIFs) are a series of government-commissioned short films, shown during television advertising breaks in the United Kingdom. The name is sometimes also applied, ''faute de mieux'', to similar films from other countries, ...
s about how to survive a nuclear war. (The original ''Protect and Survive'' soundtracks were
sampled
Sample or samples may refer to:
Base meaning
* Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set
* Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal
* Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of so ...
for the 7-inch mixes.)
The 12-inch A- and B-sides featured voice parts by British actor
Chris Barrie
Chris Barrie (born Christopher Jonathan Brown, 28 March 1960) is a British actor, comedian, and impressionist. He worked as a vocal impressionist on the ITV sketch show ''Spitting Image'' (1984–1996) and as Lara Croft's butler Hillary in th ...
imitating Ronald Reagan. Barrie also voiced the Reagan puppet on ''
Spitting Image
''Spitting Image'' is a British satirical television puppet show, created by Peter Fluck, Roger Law and Martin Lambie-Nairn. First broadcast in 1984, the series was produced by 'Spitting Image Productions' for Central Independent Television ov ...
''. Barrie's parts as 'Reagan' included praise for the band, as well as parts of
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
's speech to a court after the
Beer Hall Putsch
The Beer Hall Putsch, also known as the Munich Putsch,Dan Moorhouse, ed schoolshistory.org.uk, accessed 2008-05-31.Known in German as the or was a failed coup d'état by Nazi Party ( or NSDAP) leader Adolf Hitler, Erich Ludendorff and othe ...
: "You may pronounce us guilty a thousand times over, but the Goddess of the Eternal Court of History will smile and tear to tatters the brief of the State Prosecutor and the sentence of this court, for She acquits us." Barrie also voiced the last sentence of "
History Will Absolve Me
''History Will Absolve Me'' (Spanish: ''La historia me absolverá'') is the title of a two-hour speech made by Fidel Castro on 16 October 1953. Castro made the speech in his own defense in court against the charges brought against him after he led ...
" (Spanish: "La historia me absolverá") which is the concluding sentence and subsequent title of a four-hour speech made by Fidel Castro on 16 October 1953. Castro made the speech in his own defense in court against the charges brought against him after leading an attack on the Moncada Barracks on 26 July 1953. Barrie would return for the band's next single, "
The Power of Love", imitating
Mike Read
Michael David Kenneth Read (born 1 March 1947) is an English radio disc jockey, writer, journalist and television presenter. Read has been a broadcaster since 1976, best known for having been a DJ with BBC Radio 1, and television host for musi ...
in a parody of the DJ's ban on their previous single, "Relax".
The song's title derives from the line "two mighty warrior tribes went to war" from the film ''
Mad Max 2
''Mad Max 2'' (released as ''The Road Warrior'' in the United States) is a 1981 Australian post-apocalyptic action film directed by George Miller. It is the second installment in the ''Mad Max'' franchise, with Mel Gibson reprising his role a ...
'' (the line is also spoken by
Holly Johnson
William Holly Johnson (born 9 February 1960) is an English artist, musician, and writer, best known as the lead vocalist of Frankie Goes to Hollywood, who achieved huge commercial success in the mid-1980s. Prior to that, in the late 1970s he wa ...
at the beginning of the session version).
''
Cash Box
''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...
'' called it "a more scintillating anti-war track than
The_War_Song".html"_;"title="The_War_Song.html"_;"title="The_War_Song">The_War_Song"">The_War_Song.html"_;"title="The_War_Song">The_War_Song"_saying_it_is_"both_an_effective_dance_cut_and_a_piece_of_modern_art."
_Promotion
ZTT_aggressively_marketed_the_single_in_terms_of_its_topical_political_angle,_promoting_it_with_images_of_the_group_wearing_American_military_garb_in_combat,_as_well_as_Soviet_Union.html" "title="The_War_Song">The_War_Song".html" ;"title="The_War_Song.html" ;"title="The War Song">The War Song"">The_War_Song.html" ;"title="The War Song">The War Song" saying it is "both an effective dance cut and a piece of modern art."
Promotion
ZTT aggressively marketed the single in terms of its topical political angle, promoting it with images of the group wearing American military garb in combat, as well as Soviet Union">Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
-style army uniforms set against an American urban backdrop.
The original cover art featured a Soviet mural of Vladimir Lenin in St Petersburg, and images of Reagan and then-Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The sleeve notes, attributed to ZTT's Paul Morley, dispassionately reported details of the relative nuclear arsenals of each